Yesterday I went to my old housemate T’s birthday party in Brussels. His whole family was here, as well as some close friends that I know but haven’t seen for a while. It was nice! Afterwards I went wedding dress shopping with his sister S. It was a bit like a real-life episode of Say Yes to the Dress with her mum having drastically different taste from her own, but at the end they managed to reach a compromise so everybody went home happy!

I received MAC Woodwinked in a swap this week and wanted to put it to use (swatch and review coming soon). To spice things up a bit more, I decided to incorporate Humid as well. And yes, I love Darkhorse, but for once I wanted to switch to something else. I ended up going for a shade in my Wet n’ Wild Comfort Zone palette, and dare I say myself that was pretty ingenious! Here are more pictures, the list of products that I used, and detailed breakdown!

I used not to like gold at all because I associated it with the type of accessories my mother/grandmother would wear. It is supposed to be traditional and old-fashioned, not cool. Even with my initial success with Urban Decay Half Naked, I didn’t feel the impulse to collect more gold eyeshadows. After I saw how L’Oreal HiP Metallic Shadow duo in Gilded worked for me however, the gold-digging monster awoke in me. MAC Woodwinked is my latest acquisition, but I already have MAC Goldmine, MAC Gorgeous Gold, and NARS Paramaribo (among many others haha) high on my wish list! Woodwinked is a shimmery warm gold on me. I see a bit of red in it, so it is almost coppery but not quite.

I knew that Darkhorse would be a no-brainer to pair with it, but just because it’s a great shade doesn’t mean I have to prove it to my dear readers in each and every one of my FOTDs. Instead, I grabbed my Wet n’ Wild Comfort Zone and used the crease shade of the right column for the outer third of my lids. I had not previously used this shade before, but it’s a charcoal brown with gold shimmer, so what could possibly go wrong? It turned out that I basically hit the jackpot! Not only did the gold shimmer play very nicely with Woodwinked, two things that I had not foreseen happened. First of all, when paired with gold, this crease shade shows an interesting green tinge. It’s almost as if it were rusted brass or something. I’m sorry I can’t come up with a more romantic/accurate comparison, but that was the first thing that popped up in my head when I was applying this eyeshadow, and I was mesmerized. Second, this makes a killer crease shade for me personally, because it is so natural yet effective that it is as if I had a real crease! I don’t know what makes this so special. I have seen a lot of good crease shades, but not all of them make it look like I have a real crease.

For my lower lash line, I opted for Urban Decay Mildew, and I smudged both my upper and lower lash line out with MAC Humid. Humid is a bold green that is actually pretty versatile, and pairing it with gold is one of my favorite ways to wear it! The effect is not very much in-your-face, but it is definitely there.

Before I can blabber on and on, let’s see some more pictures!

Behold the pop of green:

At a certain angle you see the greenish tinge of the crease shade:

With my downcast eyes, you can see the shimmery gold in MAC Woodwinked better:

All in all I was pretty happy about it! On my cheeks I tested out Cargo Rome and Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess. I’ll have the swatches and reviews up soon!

The only part that I couldn’t quite “make it work” was still the lip color, so I just went with my lip balm instead. I would love for example a peachy and a coral lip product, but picking lip products is usually very difficult for me. My lips are naturally pretty pigmented, so a lot of lipsticks/glosses that look great in the tube don’t change anything at all for me. I am not too comfortable wearing very bold lip colors yet (and I don’t want my lip color to compete with my eyes), so I am a bit stuck. Does anyone have any recommendations? I would really appreciate it!

That’s my green and gold FOTD for ya! If you like it, please “like” this post, follow me with Bloglovin’, or leave a comment (especially if you have recommendations for good coral/peachy lip colors)! Thanks guys! I hope you’re enjoying your weekend, please stay tuned and stick around!

After my good experience with L’Oreal Electrified, I felt the need to lay my greedy little hands on more of these HiP Metallic Shadow Duos. Since they are unavailable in Belgium (why, L’Oreal, why? Why can’t you love thy neighbor?), I turned to Makeupalley swap. I found this wishlist-only swapper who had something on her wishlist that I could part with, so I messaged her. It turned out that she actually put the wrong item on her wishlist, but decided to send the duos for me as a random act of kindness. I was such a sweet surprise that I didn’t know what to do with myself anymore!

Therefore, before I begin to show you the review and swatches, I have to say thank you, thank you, thank you to Sarah. According to her, her top three hobbies are makeup, knitting, and jewelry-making. She has two Etsy shops. One for knitting and spinning supplies, and the other for handmade jewelry. Now, I have poor hand-eye coordination and no patience, so knitting is really not my thing. However, I LOVE her jewelry especially because she pretty much only uses sterling silver. I have once bought something off Etsy because I find jewelry with bees and birds adorable. However, I couldn’t find anything that was made with sterling silver, so I had to compromise and get something that was not. I am very unfortunately allergic to anything that is not silver and gold, so I ended up wearing that pair of earrings only twice. Every time I tried, my ears would swell up painfully, and I couldn’t wear earrings for days afterwards. If you have the same problem, do check Sarah’s jewelry site out! I can feel that it is before long that I cave it to one piece or another!

Now, let’s move on to the most picture-heavy post of this blog so far, shall we?

The lighter side of Sculpted (106) is a gorgeous shimmery plummy pink. I really like this color, and the texture/pigmentation perform pretty well. The dark side of this duo is a little tricky. It looks more purple/burgundy in pan, but from the swatch you can see it is almost black. It definitely leans warmer though, and the pink and purple glitter in it makes it more fun! I haven’t tested it out on my eyes so I can’t tell you for sure if there is fallout. However, I don’t have the impression that it is going to be the case from doing the swatches (or rather even if there is going to be fallout, it is not going to be dramatically bad). I do have to mention that this shade is slightly stiffer and the color pay-off is not as amazing as its lighter neighbor though. As this post goes on you will see this is consistent for all the HiP duos that I own. You can build it up rather easily, but it is a little more effort.

The closest colors I own to these two shades are Urban Decay Toasted and the left-column definer shade of Wet n’ Wild Comfort Zone, so I did a little comparison here:

As you can see, Toasted is FAR from the lighter shade, as it is not nearly as plummy. The definer shade of Comfort Zone is browner and warmer than the darker shade and less glittery.

Next on our list is 306 Gunmetal:

It is perhaps a little weird to name a green duo “Gunmetal (306),” but after swatching both shades, I can see that they have a grayish, smoked-out quality about them. The lighter side is a grayish olive green with a nice sheen. The darker side looks like an intense glittery forest green in pan. However, once swatched, the vibrancy of the green doesn’t transfer to skin. In my swatch picture you can see it is an extremely smoked-out green, though in person the glitter is much more impressive. Again, the texture is rather stiff, and it takes work to build it up. I know that the major complaint about this duo is that it looks very different in pan, and I have to agree with that. If you purchase the duo without having seen some swatches, you are likely to get something that is far from what you expected. With that said however, I personally like the colors (they’re green!) and I would like to see how they perform on lid!

I did a little comparison lining up all my greens next to the lighter shade (MAC Humid, MAC Sumptuous Olive, Urban Decay Mildew), and the right-column crease shade of Wet n’ Wild Comfort Zone next to the darker one:

I would say the lighter shade of Gunmetal is a blackened cross between Humid and Mildew. Next to the right-column crease shade of Comfort Zone, you can see the grayish greenish quality of the darker shade better. Also, the Wet n’ Wild shade is not nearly as sparkly.

Finally, I have saved the best for last with 806 Gilded!

The lighter side of this duo is a wow. It is a metallic true gold. Despite the fact that these duos bear the word “metallic” in their names, not many shades come out as metallic as this one. The texture buttery soft, and color pay-off more than amazing. If you put a little more pressure on your finger, the shade almost “melts.” Yup, that’s how buttery it is! For me personally, just this side makes the duo “worth it.” The darker side is a little less “deceptive” in this case. It is a grayish black with gold glitter, and it is what you get on your skin. Again, the texture is pretty stiff, and you have to work a bit for it to show up nicely. Something else that worries me a little is that I can already tell there will be some fallout. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that it isn’t too bad!

Again, I did a little comparison for you. I swatched Urban Decay Half Baked next to the lighter shade, and Urban Decay Creep next to the darker one.

Next to such a true gold like this, Half Baked looks surprisingly bronzy, almost orange! I love doing comparison swatches for you guys also because I learn so much from doing them. Half Baked is one of my all-time favorite eyeshadows, and I have used it so many times that I thought I knew it very well. Next to this shade however, I have seen a different side of it! Creep is considerably cooler than the darker shade of Gilded, and the sparkly bits almost don’t come out next to its much more glittery counterpart.

Finally, I did a happy family reunion shot of all of my metallic duos! From left to right: Electrified, Sculpted, Gunmetal, and Gilded. This is the first time I used flash, because we really haven’t had a lot of natural light here, and I kept getting blurry pictures! I did make sure the colors are accurate though.

Bottom line: Despite the fact that I wouldn’t rave about the HiP Metallic Duos as a 10/10 product, some of them are definitely worth looking into. My personal recommendations are Electrified and Gilded, because the lighter shades of both are true to the word “metallic” in their names. Sculpted is nice to have especially if you like plummy pink. I can see how Gunmetal wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but from playing around with it myself, I can say it is more phenomenal in person than a lot of the swatch pictures you can find online. It would be good for a more understated green-themed smokey eye, especially if you have something else from the green family to add some pop!

Phew, that is one very dense post! I will definitely do FOTDs soon with these duos, especially with the upcoming holiday celebrations. Please stay tuned if you want to see how they do on lid! Don’t be shy if you have any questions regarding these duos!

So what do you think? Would you be picking any of them up? Do you like metallic shadows in general?

Shale is another gem that came into my life through swap. In most of the swatch pictures I found online it didn’t look amazing, but I’m happy I took a chance on it!

Shale has a satin finish, and MAC describes it as a muted mauve-plum with subtle shimmer. The pigmentation of this shade is amazing (so amazing that I have to use a light hand), and it’s super easy to blend. On my lids it’s a mauvy grayish taupe with pink/purple shimmer. It’s an extremely interesting color that can be paired up with a lot of other colors. Because of the sheer complexity of the color I sometimes just a use light wash of it over my lids, but the result still turns out pretty sophisticated. It’s daytime appropriate, but I personally find it extremely sexy on its own with some black liner.

Just because I thought the middle shade of NYX Rock and Roll is of a roughly similar nature, I pulled it out and swatched the two side by side:

Of course I realized the two colors aren’t comparable, but I think they could work together! The MAC website also says that Shale is very often purchased with Vex, which doesn’t surprise me but I had never previously thought about the possibility! Since I do own a similar shade (the browbone shade on the right column of Wet n’ Wild Comfort Zone), I might soon give it a try (apparently you can amp up the look by working Club into your crease too)!

Is anyone going to give Shale a try? Does anyone know other ways of working with it? Do tell!

Last night I went to a friend’s birthday party, and I seized the opportunity to test out the right column of the Wet n’ Wild Comfort Zone palette!

I was inspired by, again, Jen from From Head to Toe’s tutorial. She used Wet n’ Wild Night Elf, which was limited edition. However, the two main shades she used are also in the Comfort Zone palette, so I had what it takes to be a copycat!

Here’s a list of the products I used:

KATE Gel Eyebrow in BR-3
Bobbi Brown Sable on eyebrows
Bobbi Brown Bone to hightlight browbones
Wet n’ Wild Comfort Zone: the Definer shade on the right in my crease, the Browbone shade on the right on my lid, the Browbone shade on the left in my inner corners
Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Gel Eyeliner in Blackest Black
Urban Decay 24/7 in Whiskey on my lower lash line, smudged out with the Definer shade on the right
Maybelline Volum’ Express The Falsies Waterproof Mascara in Very Black
Vichy Normaderm Drying Concealing Anti-Imperfection Stick (just to cover some spots)
MAC Cremeblend Blush in Tea Petal on cheeks
MAC Harmony for contouring below my cheekbones and jawline
Tarte Smooth Operator finishing powder lightly dusted over my face
Bobbi Brown Lip Gloss in Nougat (I realized I forgot to put this in my U.S. haul picture)

I didn’t have time to take photos before I left, so all the photos were taken when I got home, approximately 5 hours later. Besides having to pop some gloss back on (I had drinks and some finger food at the party) and blot my nose, everything else was still what it was. Here is a picture of my eye:

You can already see the duochrome at play, since on my lid it looks reddish but on my waterline it looks green!

To show you the duochrome a bit more clearly, I took two pictures of my eye closed from different angles.

On the first picture it looks more green, and on the second one it looks more red.

I’m actually really happy with the way it turned out! The duochrome shade is said to be a dupe of MAC Club. I’ve swatched Club on the back of my hand a couple of times in the MAC store, but every time I thought it pulled way too red and muddy on me. The Wet n’ Wild shade was already better when I swatched it, since I didn’t have the impression that it’s muddy. However, I was still a bit cautious about it turning out wrong or too dramatic. It was a pleasant surprise when the look worked out just fine! The duochrome is unbelievably cool! It’s the first duochrome eyeshadow I own and I’m a bit over the moon about it. A word of caution: I did have a bit of fallout with both shades I used on my lid. You can maybe see it in the close-up pictures. However, it was partially my fault since I didn’t have enough time to clean it up properly (since I don’t use foundation, I usually do that with scotch tape). It didn’t get progressively worse throughout the night though, and since the sparkling particles are fine, it’s definitely tolerable (it’s minor compared to Sidecar in the Naked Palette, for example. I adore the shade but the fallout sometimes drives me up the wall). Both shades also pack a generous amount of pigment, much to my satisfaction.

I was trying to filly my brows with my Bobbi Brown Eye Brow Brush and the KATE Gel Eyebrow (it’s actually eyebrow gel, but KATE calls it Gel Eyebrow), but it didn’t turn out too well. The issue I’ve always had with this eyebrow gel is that it could deposit way too much color in one stoke, and it’s very difficult to blend it out. Also, there is a little gap on my right eyebrow which the eyebrow gel doesn’t do as much a good job filling as Bobbi Brown Sable. At the end, I had to go through everything with Sable again anyway.

I’m still a total newbie on contouring, but Victoria’s guest post on Temptalia is extremely helpful! I have the same problem as she does, which means if we do a fishy face our contour ends up way too low! I learnt to imagine a line from the top of my ear to the outer corner from my mouth, and that turned out A LOT better than the fishy face trick! I still have a lot to learn, but the post is extremely informative and a great place to start!

So that’s an FOTD for you! Sorry for the bad lighting. It was nighttime, and it took me FOREVER to take pictures in my hallway and bathroom without weird shadow in the pictures.

I reviewed the L’Oreal HiP Duo in Electrified a couple of days ago. Since I was going to the theater with my ex housemate T and his grandmother last night, I thought I’d incorporate it in my FOTD so that you can see how it actually works on me.

I largely followed the lovely tutorial by Jen. Looking back, I could have darkened my outer corners a bit more, but since I wasn’t going to wear false eyelashes to balance the eyeshadow out, maybe the level of intensity was just enough.

(For the products I haven’t got around to reviewing, I will definitely do so at some point so stay tuned!)

Here are some pictures so you can see the eye makeup more closely (please ignore the spot on my forehead):

From an angle, you see slightly better how the dark shadow wraps around the lighter one.

This is how it looks with my eyes closed. Don’t be deceived by my eyeline though. I’m monolidded so it actually takes A LOT of gel liner on my outer corners for it to show. However, I do tend to go easy on the inner half of my eyes.

One little oppsie moment that happened yesterday was that I forgot to tap my brush before popping the shimmer brick on my cheekbones. Since Tea Petal is a cream blush, way too much shimmer stuck to the blush. I couldn’t blend it out with the brush, so I had to rub my fingers till some came off. The setting powder also helped reduce the intensity though, so it ended up looking OK. Lesson learnt: TAP YOUR BRUSH before it goes anywhere near your face!

Voila, that’s the FOTD for you. Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!